Updated 11:00 am, Sunday, February 10, 2013

Dr. Alive Frei with the Southside Place Animal Hospital kisses a 34 pound cat named Tiny Tim at the clinic in Houston. The abandoned cat weighed 35 pounds when it was rescued in the 10400 block of S. Kirkwood Rd. Tiny Tim is now on a diet and workout regiment where he must walk about 25 feet four to five times a day.
Photo: Johnny Hanson, Houston Chronicle

Dr. Alive Frei with the Southside Place Animal Hospital kisses a 34...

Dr. Frei said it will take about two years for Tiny Tim to reach his target weight of about 12 pounds. Currently Tiny Tim at 34 pounds is about the equivalent to an adult human weighing close to 500 pounds.
Photo: Johnny Hanson, Houston Chronicle

Dr. Frei said it will take about two years for Tiny Tim to reach...

Tiny Tim, the 34 pound cat, takes a break while doing one of his daily 25 feet walks down the hall for exercise at the Southside Place Animal Hospital.
Photo: Johnny Hanson, Houston Chronicle

Tiny Tim, the 34 pound cat, takes a break while doing one of his...

Tiny Tim, the 34 pound cat, does one of his daily 25 feet walks down the hall for exercise.
Photo: Johnny Hanson, Houston Chronicle

Tiny Tim, an overweight cat recently diagnosed in Houston with an aggressive cancer, will spend his final days as comfortably as possible but will most likely not undergo a leg amputation.

Dr. Alice Frei, owner of Southside Place Animal Hospital where Tiny has lived for more than a year, said she had previously considered removing the cat's right front leg but learned that the chance of it prolonging his life was less than 10 percent. When Tiny came to the hospital, he weighed 35 pounds.

"I couldn't do that to him," Frei said. "By the time he recovered from the amputation, there was a reasonable chance he would already be suffering the effects of the tumor."

Tiny, who has a Facebook following and has drawn national news coverage of his diet and exercise routine, was diagnosed with cancer in mid-January. This week, a veterinary oncologist determined the presence of a plasma cell tumor, which Frei said is relatively uncommon in cats and dogs.

"There is no really good chemotherapy for it," she said. "The best thing to do if you catch it, if it's not up against a body wall, is to remove it."

But in Tiny's case, the cancer is already in his lymph nodes.

So far, the affable cat feels fine and is his usual happy self, Frei said.

"Tiny's handling it much better than I am," she said. "He's happy as a lark. I went through a pretty horrible three- to four-week period."

He's getting light chemotherapy, which Frei expected to cause a bad reaction. "All he got was a rash. We treated him for the rash, and now he's fine," she said.

He may be happiest over the fact that he's no longer on a weight-reduction program and is getting an occasional treat.

"I got a rotisserie chicken and cut off a slice for him," Frei said. "He was like, 'Oh my God, this is amazing.'"

The staff has also provided him special bedding and a little fish to watch, which Frei takes home in the evening.

Frei said she didn't know how long Tiny can comfortably survive with the aggressive disease.

"We will not let him suffer," she said. "When he's uncomfortable and unhappy, we'll let him go."

In the meantime, Tiny loves visitors, Frei said. She encouraged anyone who wants to wish Tiny well in his cancer fight to drop by the clinic at 6902 Stella Link Road. The clinic is open 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to noon Saturdays.